Summary

The Health Systems Specialist (HSS) serves under supervision of the Director of Quality, Safety and Value (QSV) at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. The incumbent performs duties directly contributing to the administrative management of a health care delivery system including providing staff level assistance on administrative matters affecting patient care, education, research and organizational policy.

Duties

Help

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Performs staff support work for short- and long-range planning efforts, the maintenance of data related to VAPSHCS operations and the interpretation and compliance with VA regulations
• Serves as liaison for and represents QSV Leadership at meetings within the organization and to VISN, VACO and external organization for all issues within QSV leadership's purview
• Serves as an active team member with the QSV Leadership team
• Oversees the daily operations of QSV Leadership team's activities
• Manages special projects system-wide on behalf of the QSV Leadership team Maintains awareness, monitors and assures timely completion of all suspense items assigned to QSV Service Line
• Serves as the primary supporting consultant for the development and implementation of program operations related to new programs and/or initiatives that have a direct impact on data management, processing, problem resolution, and process improvement
• Utilizes knowledge of the VHACO program office's clinical performance standards, quality and performance improvement principles, regulations, and precedent decisions to assist the program office in providing policy and technical guidance to support continuous quality improvement and performance improvement throughout the organization
• Conducts analytical studies on operational processes, issue topics, or related special projects
• Ensures budget plans provide for accurate and reasonable resource allocations for personnel and workload requirements.
• Evaluates, interprets, analyzes and presents in final form all resource and workload data in support of studies
• Collaborates with the National Center for Patient Safety, Quality Safety Value staff to include the QSV Patient Safety Section, Systems Redesign (Improvement) Coordinator and the leadership to ensure planning, coordinating, tracking, reporting and communicating objectives to the various stakeholders both external and internal to VA
• Performs the administrative and personnel management functions relative to staff supervised
• Assigns work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments and the capabilities of employees
• Develops work improvement plans, recommending personnel actions as necessary
• Provides guidance and relates policy and procedure to all disciplines within the program
• Other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm

Telework: This position may eligible to telework on an as needed (ad hoc) basis, determined by the needs of the service. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Virtual: This is not a virtual or remote position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD414270

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/06/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the 0671 occupational series. Education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

To qualify for this occupational series, applicants MUST have one of the following listed below:

• Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. (Transcripts required.)
• Specialized Experience: Progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field. This work may have been performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities. Work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities, and provided knowledge of the following:
  
  • Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems;
  • Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups;
  • and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.
• Special Provision for Inservice Placement: Successful completion of an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program may be substituted for qualifying experience, provided it included a formal individualized training plan. Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included:
  
  • Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements;
  • Practical assignments providing an opportunity to apply health system administration skills and principles (as the individual progresses, work assignments must be characteristic of the grade level to which he or she is assigned);
  • and Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual's progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program.

In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirement, you must meet the GS 12 specialized experience for the position as described below:

• GS 12 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS 11 level in the Federal service that provided the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties and that is typically in or related to the work of this position. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  
  • Healthcare management supporting a health care delivery system;
  • Collecting and analyzing data to provide recommendations to improve efficiencies in the organization;
  • Working with leadership in preparing, implementing and evaluating policies, plans and operational systems;
  • Participating in or leading process improvement projects;
  • Development and submission of HR documentation (recruitment, promotions, performance, discipline, classification, etc.);
  • Providing management of suspense, issue brief and official correspondence;
  • Budget management and planning of resource allocations;
  • Preparing and providing presentations including oral and written explanations of data displays and their implications for healthcare management.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding